An Evening with Studio Mates

This morning I received a telephone call from a studio mate who had been promising to get together before school started. I thought we would just meet for a drink, then eat out somewhere. However, he wanted to grill potatoes and summer squash from his garden, so I invited him and 2 other classmates to dinner.

Originally I had planned on grilled chicken breast. However, when I ventured into the garden for onions, basil, green beans, lo and behold!, I found 2 ripe heirloom tomatoes hanging on the vine. I knew immediately what we were having for supper. Panzanella!

Brett brought his new potatoes and squash, so we added those, along with roasted beets, a cuke, fresh mozzarella cheese, an avocado, grilled bread chunks, and a simple oil-vinegar dressing. It was scrumptious. We made a huge bowl of salad, but these 3 growing college boys finished it off in a blink, along with their breast of chix, several ears each of sweetcorn, and two 6-packs of Fat Tire and 1554 ale.

Yesterday, I stopped at a roadside stand to purchase some fresh cantaloupe and watermelon (Support our local farmers!). So for dessert, we grazed on melon, blueberries, and fresh raspberries from the neighbor's patch. I topped the fruit with a dollop of vanilla yogurt, roasted pecans, and sliced almonds. We all agreed, sharing delicious, fresh, locally-grown food was the about the most sensual thing...that we could speak of. It was perfection from the garden.

What will we do when the snow starts flying and our gardens are barren?????